A Dragon's Tale
by Robin F. Shirewood
Summary: After losing the second Key to Mesmero, the X-Men discover what could be the most powerful mutant to date. Now the question is, which side shall she choose?
1. References and Beginnings

Disclaimer: X-Men, The Brotherhood of Mutants, Wolverine, Nightkrawler, ect... are all the property of Stan Lee, Marvel Inc. and various other lucky people who thought of them first.  
  
This story is a work of fiction:  
If there is any resemblance to any persons, living or dead, please notify the FBI, Coast Guard, and Marvel Comics immediately, because either something is about to be blown to pieces by awesome mutant force, or somebody really needs to be sued.  
  
Reference: For those of you either unfamiliar with or lacking in knowledge of X-Men in General. This story branches from the T.V. show shortly after Mesmero uses Magneto to destroy the spider key and opens the second door to Apocalypse's prison. (New) before the name indicates characters otherwise not found in the X-Men: Evolution Universe.  
  
(New) Silvia Tossgrove (AKA: Dragon/Tesla): Age: 16Affiliation: Not yet determined Silvia is the story's main character. A heavily mutated young woman hailing from Atlanta, Georgia, Silvia lost most of her humanity in the initial stages of her mutation. Aside from her altered body, which resembles a cross between human and the fantastical dragon of legends, Silvia possesses a power over electrical currents and anomalies that no other mutant can match. Among her powers is the ability to 'Amp' her physical attributes (Strength, Endurance, Speed, ect...) by feeding off of raw electricity. She also possesses the gift of being able to temporarily become one with the energy and travel though electrical cable and power lines. The drawback is that her survival is dependent on having a constant source of power nearby. The greater the exertion of her power, the more electricity her body needs to consume. Overloads are a common occurrence, caused by Silvia consuming more energy than she exerts.  
  
Professor Charles Xavier (AKA Professor X):Age: 63 Affiliation: Leader/Founder of the X-Men Xavier is arguably one of the most powerful mutants in the world, boasting the greatest psychic prowess of any mutant ever before encountered. Scientist and Humanitarian, Professor Xavier is determined to prove that humans and mutants can co-exist peacefully. Sometimes, Professor X is far too trustworthy and kind, rarely taking full advantage of his gift.  
  
Eric (Magnus) Leincher (AKA Magneto) :Age: 74 Affiliation: Former Leader of The Brotherhood of Mutants, Now leads The Acolytes, a rogue mutant sect Magneto is arguably one of the most powerful mutants in the world, boasting mastery over magnetism and the ability to control any and all metals. Once a friend and associate of Xavier, Magneto could not share in his friend's noble dream, believing that mankind would never accept mutants and would stop at nothing to destroy them all. Being a Jewish survivor of Nazi-camps in WWII is the undoubted cause of this skepticism, but Magneto's full intentions are, as of yet, unknown.  
  
Logan (AKA Wolverine) :Age: Unknown (Estimated between 80 and 150 years old) Affiliation: The X-men A mutant with regenerative powers, an unbreakable adamantine skeleton, and retractable adamantine claws on each hand. Gruff and stern to the extreme. Due to a government experiment, Wolverine has little memory of his life before the adamantine grafting. Has major beef with the mutant known as Saber-tooth.  
  
Scott Summers (AKA Cyclops) : Age: 17 Affiliation: The X-men Team Leader of X-Men. Generates optic blast from his eyes.  
  
Jean Grey: Age: 17 Affiliation: The X-men Pretty and popular, at least until her mutant abilities were uncovered. Telekinetic  
  
Kurt Wagner (AKA Nightcrawler): Age: 16 Affiliation: The X-men Blue furred acrobat with cloven hands and a German-accent. A fun-loving and slightly reckless teen, Kurt enjoys his ability to teleport from place to place. The downside, his almost monstrous appearance. The only thing that protects him from starting riots is the image-inducer which makes him look normal.  
  
Marie Adler (AKA Rogue) : Age: 16 Affiliation: The X-men The Rouge has a goth-attitude and the ability to drain and use the powers of other mutants temporarily.  
  
Kitty Pride (AKA Shadow Cat) : Age: 16 Affiliation: The X-men Power to pass though solid objects such as walls, people, and bullets. Destroys electronic object to pass though them.  
  
Ororo Monroe (AKA Storm) : Age: 32 Affiliation: The X-men Team leader. Storm can manipulate weather and fly by creating updrafts.  
  
Dr. Hank McCoy (AKA Beast) : Age: 38 Affiliation: The X-men Big Blue furred hulk. Super Intelligent with a passion for teaching.  
  
Bobby Drake (AKA Ice Man) : Age: 15 Affiliation: The X-men As codename implies, Ice Man can create and manipulate ice at his leisure.  
  
Evan Daniels (AKA Spyke): Age: 16 Affiliation: The X-men/ The Morlocks Can grow and shoot extensions of his bones. Able to created spikes and even impregnable armor from existing bone matter.  
  
Tabitha Smith (AKA Boom-Boom): Age: 16 Affiliation: The X-men Flashy and strong willed, Boom-Boom can create small explosives at will, making a blast out of any and all events.  
  
Rahne Sinclair (AKA Wolfsbane): Age: 14 Affiliation: The X-men Quite thoughtful country girl who just happens to be a werewolf. Able to become human, wolf, or hybrid at will.  
  
Roberto Da Costa (AKA Sunspot): Age: 15 Affiliation: The X-men Solar powered Latino with enhanced charm and fervor. Sunlight increases his strength among other attributes and allows him to fly.  
  
Jamie Madrox (AKA Multiple): Age: 13 Affiliation: The X-men Considered immature and admittedly young, Multiple can copy himself, making mirror-images that can do about anything that the original can do. Duplicates fade after a short time.  
  
Jubilation Lee (AKA Jubilee): Age: 14 Affiliation: The X-men Has the ability to created flaring lights and exploding fireworks from her fingers.  
  
Amara Aquilla (AKA Magma): Age: 15 Affiliation: The X-men Can literally ignite her body and create waves of searing heat capable of melting stone and metal.  
  
Samuel Gutrie (AKA Cannonball): Age: 15 Affiliation: The X-men Has the ability to turn his body into a shrieking, mindless, projectile.  
  
Lance Alvers (AKA Avalance): Age: 16 Affiliation: The Brotherhood of Mutants Bad boy with the power to create earthquakes and tremors.  
  
Todd Tolensky (AKA Toad): Age: 15 Affiliation: The Brotherhood of Mutants Slimy, smelly, and with super pale skin and serious hygiene problem. Aside from his hopping, agility, and extremely long tongue, he can hardly be called a mutant.  
  
Pietro Maximoff (AKA Quicksilver): Age: 16 Affiliation: The Brotherhood of Mutants Speed demon that would give 'The Flash' a run for his money. Impatient and hot-tempered. Son of Magneto.  
  
Fred Dukes (AKA The Blob): Age: 16 Affiliation: The Brotherhood of Mutants The Muscle of the brotherhood. Large, strong, and can set himself down to be, theoretically, unmovable.  
  
Wanda Maximoff (AKA The Scarlet Witch): Age: 16 Affiliation: The Brotherhood of Mutants Daughter of Magneto led a self imposed quest to destroy her father. Recently reformed due to memory tampering by the mutant, Mastermind, working under order of Magneto. Wanda has the power to send other mutant's powers awry.  
  
Raven Darkholme (AKA Mystique) :Age: 36 Affiliation: formerly The Brotherhood of Mutants, Now unknown.  
A metamorph who can look like anybody at any time. Mystique acted the part of Principle Darkholme, but was eventually found out. Birth mother of Kurt Wagner and Adoptive mother of Marie Adler (Rogue). Her motives and intentions are now as unknown as her alliance.  
  
Remy LeBeau (AKA Gambit): Age: 17 Affiliation: The Acolytes Cajun Thief by trade. An agile, fighting mutant that can charge items with explosive energy.  
  
Piotr Rasputin (AKA Colossus): Age: 17 Affiliation: The Acolytes Russian Mutant who is capable of making his skin impregnable, like steel armor skin  
  
St. John Allerdyce (AKA Pyro): Age: 15 Affiliation: The Acolytes Pyro by nature, Pyro by name. An insane appetite for destruction that has the power to manipulate fire.  
  
Victor Creed (AKA Saber-tooth): Age: Unknown Affiliation: The Acolytes Creed was once part of the ill fated 'Weapon X' project, but has since fallen in league with Magneto and the Acolytes. Wild and vicious in the extreme, Saber-tooth has enhanced senses and primal instincts. Known best for his beef with Wolverine.  
  
Mastermind: Age: Unknown Affiliation: The Acolytes A Frenchman with the power to alter memories and twist perceptions (ei. Make people see thing that are not there or change things that are.) Also able to 'hack' into minds and delve secrets. Though formidable, Mastermind is no match for Professor Xavier.  
  
Other:  
Agatha Harkness: Helped Wanda (The Scarlet Witch) learn to control her arcane powers. Further Information Unavailable  
  
Mesmero: Affiliation: None/Unknown A mutant with the intent to unleash a being known only as Apocalypse. Has the ability to bend others to his will and use them to accomplish his goals. Though formidable, Mesmero is no match for Professor Xavier.  
  
Cain Marko (AKA Juggernaut): Affiliation: None/Unknown Professor Xavier's half-brother. Bitter and envious, It was Cain whose actions put Professor X into the wheelchair. His ability makes him a literal Juggernaut, unstoppable and nearly invulnerable to any power  
  
Warren Worthington (AKA Arch-Angel): Affiliation: None/Unknown Born to a wealthy family. Warren's mutation blessed him with angelic wings and the ability to use them to fly. Owes a passive allegiance to the X-men Alex Masters/Summers (AKA Havoc): Affiliation: None/Unknown Scott Summers' younger brother, put up for adoption after birth. Generates energy blast similar to his brother, except that Alex discharges the energy from his hands rather than from his eyes.  
  
Forge: Affiliation: Neutral/X-Men A mutant teen from the 70's (don't ask), Forge is a mechanical genius with a built in Swiss army knife as his mutation. (don't ask) Though well meaning, Forge usually doesn't know when to stop trying to improve things.  
  
Irene Adler (AKA Destiny): Affiliation None Blind prophet. Has the ability to see possible events of the future. Acted as guardian for Marie (Rogue) Adler until her mutation was unleashed.  
  
Duncan Matthews- Jean's former Boyfriend. Anti-mutant  
  
Amanda Sefton- Kurt's 'girlfriend'. A normal human girl. Mutant Sympathizer.  
  
Principal Edward Kelly- Bayville High School's Principal, Anti-Mutant  
  
Wever Torque/Arcade-Computer Genius, Feelings toward mutants unknown.  
  
The Sentinel- If you don't know what a Sentinel is, then you should not be reading this fan fic. Plz return to X-men 101 for further education. Just kidding.  
Enormous robot built and designed for one purpose: To exterminate mutants.  
  
(New) Major General Trenton- Anti-mutant in the extreme. (Genocidal)  
  
(New)Professor Nikon- Military Scientist. Intentions Unknown  
  
(new)Olivia Tossgrove- Silvia Tossgrove's adoptive mother.  
  
(New)Dr. Archer- Medical doctor, first to identify Silvia's Mutation.  
  
(New)Dr. Daniel Worthington- Chief physician of Atlanta Medical. Multiple ties to unknown mutant sympathizer groups.  
  
(New)Volts- Information Unavailable  
  
Prolouge: Emergency  
  
"CLEAR THE AISLES!!!PREPARE THE O.R.!!!"  
  
"PRESSURE IS 60 OVER 30 AND DROPPING!!"  
  
"DAMIT!! SOMEBODY FIND A DOCTOR!!!"  
  
Lights flashed overhead as young Silvia Tossgrove slowly regained consciousness. She could hear the panicky voices shouting all around her, but she couldn't think of what they were saying. She tried to move, but she couldn't.  
Why was she here?  
What had happened?  
And why was it getting so hard to breath?  
  
"PRESSURE IS 90 OVER 20!!"  
  
"WE'RE LOSING HER!!"  
  
" What happened?!" A third distinct voice entered the fray, this one elderly and male. Lacking the panic of the other two, but still keeping the concern.  
  
"We don't know, doctor. Witnesses say that she collapsed in the hallway." The first voice came again. "Her condition has been deteriorating rapidly since."  
  
Pain spasmed though Silva's chest and down her spine, making her clench her teeth in involuntary protest.  
She couldn't yell out.  
She couldn't even breath....  
  
Again, she fell out of consciousness  
  
"40cc's OF ADRINILEN! WE NEED TO STABILIZE BEFORE WE CAN DO ANYTHING ELSE!!" Dr. Archer looked over his new patient, noticing her eyelids closing. Before he could say anything about this, however, the young woman was moved from the gurney and quickly hooked into a heart monitor, which immediately started it's frantic beeping.  
Still, looking over her and trying to tune out to rushed actions of the nursing team, he could see no immediate cause. No wounds or signs of illness. She certainly wasn't obese and the drop in blood pressure did not correspond with that of a heart attack patient or a drug overdose. Aside from the fact that she was laid out on a operating table in front of him dying, she seemed perfectly healthy."  
  
"WHAT THE DEVIL IS WRONG WITH HER!?"  
  
"UNKNOWN DOCTOR!"  
  
Before another order or action could be achieved, a single dreaded sound drowned out all other noise.  
A single, high-pitched, endless beep that, for half a second, quieted the room.  
  
"CODE BLUE! SHE'S FLATLINEING!! GET THE RECESSITATOR'S NOW!!!"  
  
"ADRENILIN IS READY DOCTOR!"  
  
"May be too late for that!! BRING THE DAMNED PADDLES IN HERE NOW!!!"  
  
"This is happening too fast, Doctor! I can't isolate the problem!!"  
  
"PADDLES!" Dr. Archer reached over and took the resuscitation paddles from the helping technician and rubbed them together before setting each one down in the standard positions.  
  
"READY!"  
  
"CLEAR!!!" Everybody backed slightly away, allowing Dr. Archer to press the switch on the paddles.  
  
In an instant, the resuscitator's control panel exploded, just as Dr. Archer's arms were thrown back painfully in the air by a sudden electrical arc.  
  
Then, just as quickly as it had come, the flat-line was gone, a sudden, steady heart beat now gracing the monitor.  
  
"Dear gods… what was that?!" the technician asked, staring wide eyed at the blackened metallic husk that had been the resuscitator only a moment ago.  
  
"We have a pulse doctor." One of the nurses reported, "Stronger…. And steady."  
  
"Blood pressure is increasing as well." Another said, "Stable, back to normal levels."  
  
Dr. Archer looked back to the tools in his hands, hardly believing this unexpected twist to the last thirty or so seconds. He had used the resuscitators many times before. But never had he experience that sort of kickback.  
  
"She's breathing on her own, Doctor."  
  
"Alright...I think she's going to be okay."  
  
"Which is more than we can say for this thing." The technician added, reaching over to take the paddles from the doctor.  
  
"What just happened?" Dr. Archer asked, turning to the tech and the blown out machine.  
  
"I don't know, doctor. It must have been some kind of short or power surge. I've never seen anything like this before."  
  
With the tension in the room winding down, Dr. Archer found it easy to slip away from the formalities of getting the young woman taken from the Emergency Room to a regular hospital room. In this time, just before the tech managed to roll the now useless machine out of the room, he took a look at the intact power gage.  
  
After a moment, he waved the tech out the door, allowing her to continue on with her work. Still, the calm face of Doctor Julian Archer an amazing contrast of what was going on behind his eyes.  
If the gage was right, then he had just pumped almost a thousand volts of electricity into this poor girl.  
  
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"Ms. Tossgrove?"  
  
"Yes?" Olivia Tossgrove, a slightly rounded middle aged woman with only a sliver of grey in her jet black hair sprang up from her seat in the hospital's boorish waiting room, hoping at last to find out what was happening with her daughter.  
  
"I'm Dr. Archer. I've been treating Silvia since she came in this afternoon. I have a few questions to ask you about your daughter."  
  
"Is Silvia okay?" Ms. Tossgrove asked, dreading the worse.  
  
"Oh, she's fine Ms. Tossgrove. She gave us quite a scare when she first came in, but she's sleeping soundly now and seems to be well on her way to full recovery."  
  
"Can I see her?"  
  
"Uh, Ms. Tossgrove, there are still a few things that we need to know before she can have visitors…"  
  
"Oh, yes, I have all of her insurance papers and medical records with me." Ms. Tossgrove started, beginning to shuffle though her purse.  
  
"No, no, it's not that ma'am," Dr. Archer assured her, "Just some standard medical questions. First off, I needed to ask about the rash around the front of Silvia's throat and torso. Have you had that treated before, or is this the first time she's had it?"  
  
"Oh, that, well… Silvia said that it was nothing and has just been wearing turtle necks. I was planning to take her to a doctor about it if it didn't clear up soon. But, no, she's never had that sort of thing before a week or so ago."  
  
"Yes, I understand. Tell me, has there been anything else out of the ordinary over the last week or so? Anything that might give us a clue as to what happened at the school today?"  
  
"Well, she has complained about being tired lately. Well, 'Tired' is putting it mildly… I would place it closer to exhaustion. She must have been sleeping at least eleven hours a night, but she still wasn't getting any better."  
  
"I see," Dr. Archer said, noting this on the charted clipboard he held in his hands. "Has she been under any unusual social stress lately? Problem with friends or maybe a breakup with a boyfriend?"  
  
"I…I don't think so. You see, Silvia is not a very social person. She really tended to avoid most people if possible, she doesn't like to trust anybody."  
  
"Has she been diagnosed with any sort of social disorder? S.A.D. perhaps."  
  
"Oh, No. Nothing like that. Silvia's just a very private person, that's all."  
  
"Strange…" The doctor tapped his pen against his lips. "A pretty girl like that, I would think that she would be a heart breaker." He said, thinking about the attractive teen in the recovery ward, with her perfectly toned body and gorgeous brown hair  
  
"Yes, she is a very pretty girl," Her mother agreed. "All natural too, never has to waste her time with makeup or hair styles."  
  
"Yes, you and your husband must be very proud."  
  
"Oh, I'm not married, Dr. Archer. Never have been." Ms. Tossgrove answered, shying away as though she were used to answering this sort of question. "Silvia was adopted."  
  
"I see," Dr. Archer noted again, then used his most disarming smile. "Silvia will be alright, Ms. Tossgrove. However, there are several test and precautions that we need to complete to make sure that this was only a passing instants. So we will have to hold on to her for about a day or so. But, rest assured that you will be notified as soon as sheregains consciousness."  
  
"Oh, Thank you doctor." Ms. Tossgrove grabbed the doctor's hand and shook it hard, smiling her appreciation and relief before she turned back to waiting room.  
  
"Dr. Archer!" A nurse, one who had been in the E.R. when Silvia Tossgrove had first arrived, came up to him with a file of paper work. "The results of the blood work that you asked for."  
  
Taking the file roughly from the nurse, Archer opened it and leafed though the vast majority of the papers, not interested in white blood cell counts or negative disease results. The only thing that interested him was the result of their newest and most revolutionary blood test. The result, though not surprising, was more than a little upsetting.  
  
"Who else has seen this?"  
  
"Me, the technician who did the test, and yourself."  
  
"Can the tech be trusted to keep his mouth shut?"  
  
"Yes doctor."  
  
"Good, this does not leave the three of us. Now listen carefully. I want you to post a security guard at the subject's door. Nobody goes in except you and myself, understood. And I want you to keep that thing heavily sedated."  
  
"Should I alert the military base, doctor? Or at least the police department. They will be wanting to know about this."  
  
"No! We have to keep this quiet. I will not risk the biggest chance of our medical careers on the hopes that the government will not confiscate her."  
  
"Understood, doctor." The nurse left, more than capable to accomplish her task.  
  
Doctor Archer knew good and well that he was now playing a very dangerous game with risk all it's own. But, as he had said, this was the biggest opportunity that he had ever seen. He looked again at the file in his hand, still hardly believing the results of the test.  
  
'X-positive.'  
  
Conformation that Silvia Tossgrove did, indeed, posses the enigmatic X-gene. Any other medical doctor in the country, perhaps in most of the civilized world would kill for this opportunity.  
  
Dr. Julian Archer now had a mutant in his care. 


	2. Chapter 1: Discovery

Chapter One: Discovery  
  
'Cerebro Online'  
  
Professor Charles Xavier moved his power chair into the large globed shaped room that was Cerebro, his trusted friend, Logan, close at his heels. (Metaphorically speaking) They had both been interrupted and surprise by Cerebro's sudden alert.  
  
"If this is for real, Charles, it'll be the first new mutant that Cerebro's managed to trace since the old mansion was destroyed."  
  
"I'm aware of that, Logan." Xavier scolded, not wanting to be reminded that the newer, upgraded version of Cerebro, while being much more efficient at tracking known and archived mutants, had somehow lost it's capability to identify and locate newly evolved mutants. Without wasting anymore time, Xavier took up the control helmet and set himself into the machine, amplifying his power in an attempt to find the mutant that Cerebro had detected.  
  
"Access: Cerebro."  
  
User and Code  
  
This new feature, which Logan had convinced his old friend that Cerebro needed badly, was both simple and genius. The wrong hands had been able to access Cerebro far too many times in the past, both when the teen Arcade had hacked his way into the mansions security system and when Mystique, posing as Xavier, had set the entire mansion to self destruct.  
  
"User: Charlie Xavier." That had also been Logan's suggestion. Any other impersonator who had used Charles instead would have been automatically locked out of the system. "Passcode: Wheels"  
  
Accepted: Welcome Professor  
  
With preliminaries out of the way, Xavier when to his work.  
  
Mutant signature detected Tracing source of mutation.  
….  
….  
Location Confirmed: Atlanta, Georgia: United States of America.  
Identifying new mutation… ….  
….  
New Mutant Identified, confirmed and Recorded for Archives.  
  
"Yes." Xavier was more than overjoyed as the image of a young, pale girl with long shiny brown hair started to process into Cerebro's visual indicator. It was usually best to find a new mutant just before or as their powers were beginning to surface. It both allowed them to learn that there were others like them out there, and that the X-Men would do all in their power to help them. While the first contact with a mutant was always the hardest, it would be far easier now then it would if they couldn't avoid her having any 'unpleasant experiences' with misunderstanding humans or, worse, with Magneto.  
  
Identity of new mutant confirmed….  
Silvia Tossgrove Apartment 2006, East Elm Boulevard Nature of Mutation, Unknown.  
  
"Well, that was easy enough, eh Charles." Logan grunted slightly, turning to leave as Xavier took off and put away the control helmet.  
  
"Yes, Perhaps too easy…" Xavier folded his hands together.  
  
"Okay, that's your 'I'm not so sure about this' tone." Logan stopped and observed. "What is it that I missed right there that has you all concerned."  
  
"No, it's nothing Logan." Xavier turned his chair around with a smile and nodded to the Canadian. "We should prep the jet and set out at once. It's the weekend, so we should assemble the full team."  
  
"Can't." Logan injected, waiting for Xavier before exiting Cerebro, "Scott's with his brother at that surf contest in California and Jean is visiting with her parents this weekend. You cleared that yourself."  
  
"That's right…" Xavier thought for a moment. "And Rogue is still recovering from the incident last week." Xavier reminded himself, referring of course to when Rogue had absorbed Mystique's shape shifting powers and, as a side-effect, lost her identity in a swell of every person that she had ever touched.  
That was not the sort of thing that anybody recovered from easily.  
  
"Well, that leaves Kurt, Kitty, Ororo, you, and myself."  
  
"You really need me to be tagging along with you, Charles?" Logan inquired. "Keep in mind that I usually don't do subtly ."  
  
"Hank can handle things here at the mansion, Logan. Besides, if Magneto has been having the same trouble that we've been having acquiring recruits, then he'll be just as anxious to get to Silvia as I am. It'll be helpful if you come along."  
  
"I may not be psychic , Charles." Logan smiled as they approached the elevator. "But I can tell that the real reason is because you don't want to risk having to let the squirt drive the car again."  
  
Xavier shivered and grimaced at the memory of his previous driving experience with Kitty Pride, allowing Logan a lighthearted laugh at his expense as the elevator closed.  
  
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"Are we recording yet."  
  
"Yes, Doctor."  
  
"Alright, then, lets do this." Dr. Archer secured the mask around his face, a mere caution, before he started speaking for the tape. "This is Dr. Julian Archer, at 8:45 a.m. Atlanta Medical. The date is April, 30th, the year…."  
  
A sudden clamor of utensils struck the ground, causing the doctor to jump nearly out of his skin before he realized that it had merely been the tech from before (acting now as an orderly, since Dr. Archer did not want this secret to get out any sooner than it had to.)  
  
" Get a grip on yourself man, you're a professional." Archer scolded for a moment before turning back to the task at hand.  
  
"Excuse me. As I was saying… The subject is a mutant, female, by the surname Silvia Tossgrove. Age is sixteen and seven months. Height is five foot, nine inches, weighing approximately one hundred and fifteen pounds. Subject was admitted to E.R at around two O'clock yesterday. Though initial cause of symptoms is, as of yet, unknown. The subject was soon identified as a mutant, a fact which is most certainly connected to the initial problems. When admitted, subject had several minor rashes, beginning at the front of the throat and then running down the front of the torso. Within the last eighteen and a half hours, said rashes have spread, now covering most all surface space despite multiple attempts of treatment using antibiotics. The original areas, where the rash was first prominent, seem to have smoothed out and lost their red color, reverting to subject's original skin color in most places. However, upon closer examination of these areas, we can see that the deceptively smooth, unblemished skin is, in fact, a very fine, minute set of small, overlapping scales, much like that of a reptile. The area around the front of subject's throat and anterior torso, including breast, belly, and forward pelvic area are instead being covered in long, horizontal yellowish scales that I hypothesize will be the equivalent to a snake's belly scales. It is expected that within a few more hours, subject's rash will vanish entirely, leaving the subject completely covered with these scales.  
Other indication's of the subject's mutation include a sudden growth of a pair of black, back-curving horns from the subject's forward cranium. Ears have doubled in size and lost human shape, elongating outward in an fashion often portrayed by anime elf artists. Eyes have likewise changed, once more, taking on a more reptilian appearance, with pupils becoming slit and irises changing to an unnatural amber color. Due to probable complications, sedatives have been used to keep patient unconscious. Whether this is in anyway interfering with mutations is unknown. Preparing for further examination we…"  
  
Dr. Archer stopped, his hand halfway toward the scalpel on the tray before him, as he heard a sudden moan from the young 'woman' on observation table. Looking down at her, he saw that she was stirring, beginning to sway and move her arms like many who came out of sedation following surgery.  
This was unacceptable.  
  
"Turn off the recorder!"  
  
"Doctor?"  
  
"DO IT!" Archer scolded, his urgency getting an immediate response. As soon as the recorder was no longer working, Archer tore the mask from his face, anger more than apparent.  
"I gave you explicit instructions to keep this thing sedated!"  
  
"But I have doct…" The nurse stopped, suddenly seeing the mutant stirring on the table. "That…. That can't be…" She stammered, "I must have pumped half a drug store into it's arm just an hour ago. At least twice the safe dosage."  
  
"Do it again." The doctor ordered, "We'll get on with this as soon as we can be sure…"  
  
"Dr. Archer to registration desk, please"  
  
"Oh for the love of… Now What?" Dr. Archer looked back to the nurse, "We'll pick this up when I get back. Until then, I want no one in this room. Understood?"  
  
"Yes doctor."  
  
Dr. Archer stormed out of the observation room and past the security guard that had been placed at the door, irritated both by the interruption and the idea that he might miss his only chance to examine this mutant without any outside interference.  
  
The nurse went straight to work, preparing syringes and sedatives for injection, having to do more than the safe amount of guessing due to her patient's obvious complications. She did not consider herself either for or against the recently exposed 'outbreak' of mutant-kind, but she did understand and appreciate the possible contribution this mutant might have to offer the physicians of humanity, who were still very much in the dark when it came to the mutant question.  
Just to be safe though, the nurse guessed low on the strength of the injections.  
  
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Olivia Tossgrove opened her door late that evening to find an older, bald, yet handsome man in a wheelchair awaiting her. Olivia could tell right away that this man must have been extremely learned, likely a teacher, perhaps even a college professor.  
Behind him stood a rather assorted group, two friendly-looking teens: a boy with dark hair and a lean athletic look, and a smaller, attractive young woman with an innocent face and long brown hair. A larger man, grim set and muscular stood in the back of the troop with a beautiful black woman with stark white hair.  
  
A strange ensemble indeed. Strangely enough, she had the nagging feeling that she had seen these people before.  
  
"Uh, may I help you?"  
  
"Ms. Olivia Tossgrove, I assume?"  
  
"Yes? I'm sorry, am I behind on my cable bills again?"  
  
"Not at all, Ms. Tossgrove. My name is Charles Xavier. I'm here to talk to you about your daughter, Silvia."  
  
"Silvia!" Ms. Tossgrove panicked for an instant. "Is everything alright?"  
  
Xavier was taken back for a moment, struck speechless by Olivia's concern.  
  
"Is there something vrong?" The teen boy asked, an apparent German accent dominating his speech.  
"You see, ve thought that Silvia vould be here."  
  
"What, No." Olivia recomposed herself, taking a breath of relief. "Silvia was admitted to South East Medical yesterday. They kept her overnight for observation."  
  
Xavier looked back to the others, a now equal concern coloring his features.  
Logan shared it. He knew the risk to any mutant in the hands of outside forces better than any of the others. And with mutants becoming public and anti-mutant factions growing, it was even more dangerous. If the hospital found out what Xavier knew, there was no telling what might happen.  
  
"Logan, If you could…"  
  
"I'm already there, Charles." Logan said without hesitation. "You two coming?" He asked the teens.  
  
"Can I drive?" The young woman asked.  
  
"NOOO!!" Every one of the visitors answered in blunt unison.  
  
"Aww, why not?" She wined.  
  
The three left quickly, heading down the stairs of the apartment building while Xavier and the woman that he introduced as Ororo Monroe.  
  
"Ms. Tossgrove, there is something that we need to discuss about Silvia. May we come in?"  
  
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"You can't do this to me Daniel!"  
  
"What the hell were you thinking, Julian?! That nobody would notice she had vanished from recovery?! That nobody would realize that you had closed off an observation room?! Were you hoping that the rest of us were so incompetent that you could run this scheme for as long as you wished! Give me ONE reason why I shouldn't have your medical license run though a garbage disposal!" The chief physician, Dr. Daniel Worthington, demanded, his tone on the edge of homicidal.  
"I should have not only your license rebuked for this breach in ethics, but your entire career should be questioned!"  
  
"This is the chance of a life time, Daniel!!" Dr. Archer tried to get his point across while keeping his voice under control. "This girl is a mutant, Daniel. A living breathing mutant! How can we possibly pass up an opportunity to study this creature, to expand our knowledge of…"  
  
"THAT… " The director of the hospital nearly exploded in rage, "That "creature"… is a patient under my care! And I don't care if you have E.T.'s pregnant hermaphrodite mother in that room! No patient under the care of MY hospital will be subjected to experiments or whatever the hell else you were planning to do to her. I don't care if she is a mutant, Julian, and unlike you, I have respect for the Hippocratic Oath that I took the day I graduated medical school."  
  
"Daniel," Dr. Archer attempted to gain ground in this losing argument. "We have an opportunity to study that thing in detail…."  
  
"DR. ARCHER! You are, as of now, relived of your duties and may consider yourself fired! And if I were you, I would hold off on trying to land another job in medicine, because I will be ordering a complete investigation into this and any other acts of malpractice and disregard for human life that may be spanning your career!"  
  
"YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME, DANIEL!"  
  
"It's done, Julian. And be thankful that the final decision in this is not mine, because, if it were up to me, you would rot in federal prison for what you intended on doing to that girl. Now get out of my hospital before I have security escort you off the premises!!"  
  
His mind fueled by anger, Dr. Julian Archer spun around and stormed off.  
He may have lost this round to his blindly altruistic superior.  
But he was more than comfortable with the fact that, after a few well placed phone calls, he could get another chance.  
  
"Your orders, doctor?" The new nurse asked Dr. Worthington while he watched the elder doctor stalk away. "About the mutant girl?"  
  
"Cease sedation and get her out of the observation room. Make sure that she is completely covered when you transfer her to a private recovery ward, I don't want a panic. No stimulants, let her come out of the sedation naturally. Anything that we do drug wise to intervene may only hurt her further."  
  
"And after that, Dr. Wothington?"  
  
"After that, we sit back, and see what happens." The doctor said, thinking about how he was going to bring this news to Silvia Tossgrove's mother after that snake, Archer, had told her that she was alright.  
"It's all we can do."  
  
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"I'm sorry sir, but I have no registry for a 'Tossgrove, Silvia'. Are you certain that she was checked into this hospital."  
  
"Yeah, I'm certain." Logan sneered in frustration. In the end (and with a little help from Kitty) they had managed to barrel though down-town city traffic and reach the hospital in just under ten minutes.  
They had spent the rest of their hour here trying to FIND the girl.  
  
"Sir, I have cross-referenced every check-in, Emergency Room entry, transfers to and from other hospitals, and recovery ward all over the building. There is simply no record of anyone here under that name within the last six months."  
  
"Look, She came in the emergency room yesterday and was supposed to have been put in a recovery room." Logan repeated again for the hundredth time, going over all the facts (which Xavier had 'lifted' from the surface of Ms. Tossgrove's mind over an hour before) with almost a dozen different nurses and technicians. "She was under the care of a Dr. Archer, We're here at her mother's request."  
  
"Archer?" The technician looked at her computer again and shook her head. "I'm sorry sir, but according to this, Dr. Julian Archer was suspended from practice recently and is pending an investigation."  
  
"Suspended from practice? When?"  
  
The technician punched the question into her computer and hesitated for a moment while allowing the answer to load.  
"It was…just this morning as a matter of fact."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I'm sorry sir, but that information is confidential."  
  
"Of course it is!" Logan snapped before turning around and heading back to meet Kitty and Kurt in the waiting room. He knew that she had to be here. But the fact that they couldn't find anyone who was willing to cooperate meant either that everyone was covering something up or that there was a much smaller conspiracy on hand. Logan noticed Kitty Pride and Kurt Wagner immediately as he walked into the waiting room and could tell form their faces that they were just as unsuccessful.  
  
"So, do you think that someone might have taken her?" Kurt asked, his accent punctuating every syllable.  
  
"I doubt it, elf." Logan steamed, "I just found out that the doctor treating her had his M.D. K.O.-ed this morning. And I'm betting that it wasn't for prescribing sugar pills."  
  
"Okkay…" Kitty shook her head, trying to make some sense of what was happening. "So, Silvia comes in here, then disappears, then the doctor is sacked, and… Am I missing something? Why don't Kurt and I just do a little…" She lowered her voice for a moment, "… high-talented snooping?"  
  
"Because we don't need you walking though a wall, stumbling on a nurse changing a bed-pan and set off some sort of national media coverage on 'the mutant menace.'" Logan paused for a second, lifting his chin and taking a quick sniff of the air.  
"On the other hand, you might want to keep that option open…" Logan scoped around for a moment, but it didn't take him long to find what he was looking for.  
Military uniforms.  
"I think we just got some company."  
  
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"There has to be some mistake…" Olivia Tossgrove stammered, hardly able to keep herself from shaking. "I mean…Silvia can't possibly be… it's just not…"  
  
"Ms. Tossgrove," Xavier said coolly, feeling that this reaction, while not uncommon, was not what they needed right now. "Your daughter is about to undergo a very difficult transition in her life. And, in the end, she is going to need your support to get though it. But, you do not need to take on this task alone. Silvia will need to be in a place where she can be safe to continue to learn and grow…"  
  
"I take it that you are too?" Ms. Tossgrove looked up to Xavier quickly, then to Storm. "And her? You're…" She trailed off.  
  
"Mutants?" Storm answered cautiously. Ms. Tossgrove nodded.  
  
"Yes." Xavier confirmed, hoping that this fact would not damage the conversation. "We understand the trials and hardships that Silvia is about to face, and we wish only to help her. She is gifted, and like any other gifted person, she needs guidance."  
  
"I don't…She can't…" Ms. Tossgrove stopped, "The doctor said that she was going to be fine."  
  
Almost as if on cue, Xavier's cell phone rang. And the professor didn't need to look at the number to tell who it was.  
  
"Logan. What is it?"  
  
"We got some problems, Charles." Logan's lowered voice came over the phone. "At least a dozen of 'em, and their all dressed in green."  
  
"Is she alright?"  
  
"Don't know." Logan replied, "Everyone we've talked to has given us the runaround, and it looks like their doing it to our friends from the military too."  
  
"Understood, we'll get a taxi and be there as soon as we can." Xavier hung up the phone and backed his wheelchair up. "Ms. Tossgrove, we'll do everything that we can to make sure…"  
  
"Will you be taking her away from me?"  
  
Xavier paused.  
This was the first time that a parent had asked him that particular question.  
"I don't want to take her anywhere without your consent."  
  
"You didn't answer my question."  
  
"Ms. Tossgrove." Xavier knew that he had to thread carefully here. "I fear that, if we don't, then we will not be the last to come to you with this proposition. But, the others have their own agendas and will not have her best interest in mind."  
  
Ms. Tossgrove sighed.  
"She can think for herself, Professor Xavier. I've never been able to sway her from anything that she has ever decided to do. And if she agrees to go with you to your 'school', then so be it." Her face turned grim, "But if she does, then don't bring her back here again. I can't bear the thought of my beautiful Silvia being reduced to a hated freak."  
  
"She is not…!" Storm started to protest.  
  
"This is not the time, Storm." Xavier stopped her, turning his wheel chair about. "We have to get a taxi." As an after though, he reached into his wallet and fished out a card. "That is your decision. But, if you change your mind…" He handed Ms. Tossgrove the card, "You can reach me at that number."  
  
With that, Storm and Xavier left Olivia Tossgrove sitting on her couch, pondering all that she had learned with a card in her hand. 


End file.
